V6 Looper Block Deck Repair

[daselbee]

Hello all...
I have run into a problem while prepping my V6 1996 200 looper block for rebuild.
The block deck is heavily pitted. I see pits that are at least 1/4" deep, and one pit actually goes through to the water jacket.
I have read about guys using JBWeld, but that repair was much smaller.
So, I looked around, and found this stuff called HTS2000. It claims to be a high quality aluminum repair brazing material that you melt onto the material to be repaired using a torch, very similar to soldering. Here is the link.

http://www.aluminumrepair.com/aluminum_repair.asp

If I filled up all these pits, using HTS2000, then had the deck surfaced, could this actually work?

The other alternative would be to get it TIG welded and then resurface.

Or will ANY of these two ideas work???!!!

The picture red arrows are the deepest pits. The yellow arrow points to a pinhole in a pit that goes through to the water jacket. The blue circle shows the CLOSEST any pitting gets to the cylinder sleeve (1/4"). The pitting is this bad around all the cylinders, on both banks.

http://s718.photobucket.com/albums/ww181/daselbee/?action=view&current=DSCF1366a.jpg

I would love to hear your thoughts on repairing this, and if anyone has used HTS2000...speak up please.

Thanks, Doug.

 

[jonesg]

Re: V6 Looper Block Deck Repair

From your description I expected it to look worse than it does, I'd ask a machine shop to have a look and see if they can deck it, then use low compression head gaskets if possible, next option would be a used block if I could snag one cheap.

I don't know where you're located but the Boston craigslist has 3 6cylinder engines for short dough right now.

 

[daselbee]

Re: V6 Looper Block Deck Repair

Well, jonesg, I just do things back-asswards, I guess.
I already had the machine work done...cyls bored .020 over, and even a special "porting and polishing" procedure to clean up the flash in the block. So, I have a bit of money in this one already.

AND...I would have thought that a professional machine shop, before boring, would have at least warned me about the pitting....

I should have cleaned the decks off first...then decided on the usability of the block. I just had NO idea that the pitting would be as bad as it is. Before cleanup, it has this white oxidation and salt in the pits...so you don't know how deep it is until you dig it out. Funny thing... the head gasket covers the block deck where the pits are, and I see no path for water at the pit locations. It is almost as if water has seeped under the head gasket and just sat there over the years, happily corroding....

But now...I wonder if it can be fixed.
I am in Florida by the way.

 

[jonesg]

Re: V6 Looper Block Deck Repair

It looks like it can be fixed, its almost all surrounded by good metal.